This text explores the intersections of tourism, memory and visual culture through a decolonial lens, using personal photographs and lived experience as the primary site of inquiry. Centered on the context of Cuba, the work interrogates the postcard as both a material object and a colonial modern artifact, tracing how the tourist, particularly the white, gaze commodifies La Habana’s histories, spaces and bodies.

The project unfolds through the author’s own diasporic return to Cuba, structured around a series of photographs taken at the age of eight. These images, constituent of a family archive, anchor the narrative and serve as points of entry into the layered relationships between personal memory and colonial visual regimes. Throughout the book, the research brings forth the archival materials that inform the knowledge the author stands upon.

Designed and produced in collaboration with Dans Jirgensons and Trang Quỳnh Lê.

https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/3769162/3769161